Catching Slow File I/O with a Filtered Extended Events Session
file_read_completed and file_write_completed fire on every I/O. Filter on duration to capture only the slow ones, then shred to name the file.
Reads Are Part of the Contract: A DBA’s Guide to ORM-Generated SQL
In I argued that the database is a published interface, and that the way to keep it changeable is to draw a boundary: a small, deliberate set of views and procedures is the contract, and…
Upgrading Database Compatibility Levels Across a Whole Instance
The instance upgrade went perfectly. You moved from SQL Server 2019 to 2022, the installer turned green, the services came back up, and the application connected on the first try. A week later someone asks…
Why Resource Governor Ignores Your SQL Server Agent Job Owner
You did everything right. Resource Governor is configured, you have a workload group that caps CPU and memory so one runaway job cannot starve everything else, and you have a classifier function that reads the…
Lock Escalation, and Why You Shouldn’t Disable It!
Lock escalation affects every SQL Server database. Understanding when and why SQL Server escalates row-level locks to table locks and what you can do about it is essential knowledge for any DBA managing concurrent workloads.
Memory Grant Analysis with AI
Find queries with excessive memory grants, tempdb spills, and RESOURCE_SEMAPHORE waits using AI analysis.